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Ade secures opening friendly draw - 28/7/07

An opportunist second half strike from Ade Olorunda earned United a share of the spoils in their first pre-season friendly encounter of the 2007/08 campaign at Dartford's smart new Princes Park stadium this afternoon. United had found themselves a goal down after less than three minutes of a keenly contested encounter, but did more than enough to deserve a draw after fighting back to equalise with twenty minutes remaining.

Manager Nigel Kane named a squad of nineteen to face a Dartford side newly switched to Ryman League Division One North for the coming season. With Dan Williams, Rhys Whyborne and Tim Olorunda all unavailable, Brett Griffin was called upon to partner skipper Kevin Rose at the heart of United's defence, while Tom Cusden made his first appearance for the Club at right back. A five man midfield was built around playmaker Lee Carey, with new signing Scott Kirkwood making his United debut, and Nima Cham making a welcome return following a long spell on the injured list last season. Ade played as a lone striker in the first half, but was paired with Dominic Cruttenden after the interval, as United switched to a 3-5-2 formation, with Nathan Russell coming on for his debut at the back. Goalkeeper Jani Seitsonen and midfielder Matt Darby also featured for the first time in United colours, and Dave Henham returned after a spell in the County League last year. The home side were missing their prolific strike duo of Brendon Cass and Jay May, but looked strong in all other departments. New signing Adam Flanagan led a quartet of former Hastings players in the Dartford line-up, which also included goalkeeper Tony Kessell, while Tommy Osborne and Mark Green both appeared as second half substitutes.

United's policy of passing the ball through a congested midfield paid early dividends, and Dartford were pinned inside their own half for the opening few minutes, only to break with clinical efficiency to take the lead from their first attack. Ryan Hayes played the ball down the right hand side for young striker Tom Bradbrook to chase, beating Lee Carey and crossing to the near post for Tom Poole to crash a first time shot into the roof of the net. Lee forced a good save out of Kessell from a quickly taken free kick, but United were then fortunate not to concede again when Brett and Kevin both failed to clear a Steve Norman cross, but defender John Guest could only stab a shot over the bar from close range. Norman tested Lee Worgan from long range, before Flanagan and Guest went close from teasing Junior Kadi free kicks, and Lee then did well to block Hayes' fiercely struck twenty yard effort with his legs. A brave block by Brett prevented Bradbrook's volley from troubling Lee just before half time, and United were perhaps fortunate to keep the lead down to one at the interval, lacking a cutting edge in attack, despite having played arguably the better football. They were also one down in shirts as well, with Scott having had his literally ripped off his back by Kadi, who had taken exception to a tackle that he had perceived to have been rather more sinister than the officials believed to be the case.

Although United's second half line-up was somewhat more experimental, the change in formation appeared to have the desired effect, with Ade and Dominic posing more of a threat as a duo, than Ade had previously managed on his own. Russell Eldridge also started positively down the left hand side and his low cross set up Dominic for a good chance from a narrow angle that Kessell smothered well. Ade went close with a speculative overhead kick, but United had clearly gained the upper hand and claimed their deserved equaliser in the seventieth minute when John Bradley's miscued twenty yard shot was intercepted by Dominic by the penalty spot, forcing Kessell into an excellent save, only for Ade to follow up to roll the loose ball into an empty net. United seemed the more likely to go on and win the game for the following ten minutes, but Dartford rallied themselves in the closing stages, with Valentine Obamonyi seeing a volley deflected just over the bar, and then crossing for Eddie McClements to head straight at Jani.

In the end, both sides will have been able to take plenty of encouragement from a match that neither deserved to lose, but that neither did quite enough to win. From United's point of view though, this was a more than useful performance ahead of Tuesday's altogether tougher prospect of a visit from a Brighton & Hove Albion XI.

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Dartford XI (4-4-2)							Hastings United XI (4-5-1)
1 Tony Kessell							1 Lee Worgan
2 Jamie Coyle							2 Tom Cusden
3 Steve Norman							3 Jimmy Elford
4 Adam Flanagan							4 Kevin Rose (c)
5 John Guest							5 Brett Griffin
6 Brad Potter							6 Nima Cham
7 Junior Kadi							7 Danny Ellis
8 Ryan Hayes							8 Scott Kirkwood
9 Tom Bradbrook							9 Ade Olorunda
10 Eddie McClements							10 Sam Adams
11 Tom Poole							11 Lee Carey
Substitutes
12 Jamie Lawrence (for Hayes 84)							12 Matt Darby (for Kirkwood 64)
14 Mark Green (for Bradbrook 57)							14 Russell Eldridge (for Carey 45)
15 Valentine Obamonyi (for Poole 57)							15 Dave Henham (for Rose 60)
16 Tommy Osborne (for Potter 69)							16 Dominic Cruttenden (for Adams 45)
17 Richard Avery							17 Nathan Russell (for Griffin 45)
GK Ray Marshall							18 John Bradley (for Cham 45)
							11 Lee Jules (for Ellis 69)
							GK Jani Seitsonen (for Worgan 45)

Attendance 458

Referee Mr I Fissenden

Assistants Messrs G Marley & M Huggins